Pursuing a professional career though distance MBA simultaneously with a job is not an easy task. One has to manage day-to-day stress of the job along with small hiccups of personal and family life. With all this, it is obvious that focusing attention on studies would be difficult.
Study can be boring even if you like the subjects due to all this hell happening around you. It just doesn’t allow you to focus. It may become sometimes very difficult to find time for study and that can build more pressure on you when examinations are near.
Typically the issues one will face while pursuing a program like distance MBA are
- Not having enough time for studying
- Daily chores eat up into the time reserved for studies
- Cannot focus on studies
- Lot of reading to be done for a professional course
- Do not recollect/remember things after some time
- There is no fun, it’s all serious!
Yes. All this is right. But, can we do something about it? Let us discuss a world class technique known as mind map which can ease out some pressure.
What is Mind map?
We are accustomed to the traditional way of taking notes in the class. They are linear. We write down things in sequence one after the other on paper as they are taught. We hardly enjoy this as there is lot of text and very rare diagrams. If we want to go back and search for something, it becomes painstaking task. Very often, notes taking becomes a feel good exercise. Linear notes are neither interesting to read nor visually appealing.
An educational consultant, Tony Buzan invented a graphical method of capturing information called Mind map and the technique is called Mind Mapping. It is visual thinking tool which uses both parts of our human brain.
Human brain stores the information not a static data stored inside a cell but as interactions among brain cells called neurons. Our brain remembers information easily when it is associated with other known information. These linkages are important. They connect data already stored in the brain to the new data we are trying to feed in. Mind map exploits this way of working of the human brain.
Drawing mind map for pursuit of distance MBA
We love to draw pictures and anyone can draw them easily. Drawing mind map is a child’s play once you understand principles behind it.
2.line connecting these subtopics to central topic.
3.Try to add symbols, pictures, images to your heart’s content.
4.You can keep on adding more topics and subtopics to it as they come to your mind.
For example, we want to create a mind map for your pursuit of distance MBA program. Central topic would be “distance MBA”. Now when you start thinking about this main goal, other related topics would emerge. They are like doing research, making financial provision, developing soft skills, choosing a program, switching to better career after completion of the program. All these subtopics are shown connected to the main topic of “distance MBA”.
Let us see how to explore further. Take example of Research. There may be subtopics for these which could be actions for research. Researching internet, visiting www.simplidistance.com, talking to your friends if they know about good distance MBA programs.
In this fashion, over the period of time, you will have a complete mind map ready which can be referred later for checking progress etc.
The beauty of creating mind map is “fun”. Mind maps are easy to remember as they are images or pictures and not collection of boring text. And as it is not sequential like your class notes, new points can be inserted at the appropriate place in the diagram.
There are many mind map creation tools available on internet which are free. For example XMind, iMindMap, MindMeister etc. You can download couple of them and try them yourself.
Why student of distance MBA should care about Mind Map?
You can create mind maps as you start studying your subjects. You can add all the key concepts, formulae etc. in a mind map. This mind map can serve as a tool which can help you do the revision on regular basis and especially helpful at the time of the examination while pursuing any distance MBA program of your choice.
Mind maps can be drawn by hand. There are numerous uses of mind maps. You can use it for notes taking, explaining concepts, planning, brain storming, noting minutes of meeting and so on.
Study technique like mind maps is very important in today’s world of information overload. This can be effectively used to clear the clutter and focus on things which are important. Mastering this tool is vital for someone like you who is working hard and is facing scarcity of time.
